Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr.; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary music, including Jack Nitzsche, Doc Pomus, Dr. John, Mark Knopfler, Allen Toussaint, and Eddie Bo. Latin rhythms, blues riffs, doo-wop, Cajun music, strains of French cabaret, and echoes of early-1960s uptown soul can be heard in DeVille's work.
Mink DeVille was a house band at CBGB, the historic New York City nightclub where punk rock was born in the mid-1970s. DeVille helped redefine the Brill Building sound. In 1987 his song "Storybook Love" was nominated for an Academy Award. After his move to New Orleans in 1988, he helped spark the roots revival of classic New Orleans R&B. His soulful lyrics and explorations in Latin rhythms and sounds helped define a new musical style sometimes called "Spanish-Americana".For example, the term "Spanish-Americana appears on DeVille's MySpace Music page (Retrieved Jan 24, 2008)
DeVille died of pancreatic cancer on August 6, 2009, at the age of 58.Fusilli, Jim (August 7, 2009) "Willy DeVille Dies at 58." Wall Street Journal. (Retrieved 8–11–09)Editors (August 10, 2009) "Punk pioneer Willy DeVille dies." BBC News. (Retrieved 8–11–09.)Grimes, William (August 10, 2009) "Willy DeVille: Punk Rock Pioneer." The Miami Herald. (Retrieved 8–12–09) Although his commercial success waxed and waned over the years, his legacy as a songwriter has influenced many other musicians, such as Mark Knopfler and Peter Wolf.
Early life Willy DeVille was born in Stamford, Connecticut to William Paul Borsey (1919–2000), a carpenter, and Marion Elizabeth Meritt (1921–2004).Editors (September 9, 2009) "Music Obituaries: Willy DeVille." The Daily Telegraph. (Retrieved September 9, 2009) He grew up in the working-class Belltown district of Stamford. His maternal grandmother was a Pequot,Cohen, Elliot Stephen (August/September 2006). Willy DeVille, Dirty Linen No. 125, p. 37 and he was also of Spanish and Irish descent. As he put it, "A little of this and a little of that; a real street dog."Marcus, Richard (2006) "Interview: Willy DeVille" Leap in the Dark blogsite (Retrieved Jan 29, 2008) DeVille said about Stamford, "It was post-industrial. Everybody worked in factories, you know. Not me. I wouldn't have that. People from Stamford don't get too far. That's a place where you die."Cohen, Elliot Stephen (August/September 2006) Willy DeVille. Dirty Linen No. 125, p. 37 DeVille said about his youthful musical tastes, "I still remember listening to groups like the Drifters. It was like magic, there was drama, and it would hypnotise me."
DeVille quit high schoolSee Rhodes, Dusty (1978) "Issue 13: Mink DeVille: Smooth Running Caddy: The Tale of the Mink" , Rock Around the World (Retrieved Jan 29, 2008) DeVille said, "I was always considered an asshole ... I never fit in at school ... I was always looked upon as the weird." and began frequenting New York City's Lower East Side and West Village. "It seemed like I just hung out and hung out. I always wanted to play music but nobody really had it together then. They had psychedelic bands but that wasn't my thing."Rhodes, Dusty (1978) "Issue 13: Mink DeVille: Smooth Running Caddy: The Tale of the Mink" Rock Around the World. (Retrieved Jan 29, 2008) In this period, DeVille's interests ran to blues guitarists Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker,DeVille said "I heard John Lee Hooker when I was twelve years old. When I heard that voice, I said, 'Man I gotta sound like that.' So I was 12 years old, with my face full of freckles ... I went around saying 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ... ' trying to sound like John Lee Hooker. I'm very happy that he has finally got the commercial success, because he has influenced so many people ... ", Editors (1994) " Interview: Concierto Básico" Canal magazine. (Retrieved September 3, 2008) and especially John Hammond.Marcus, Richard (2006) "Interview: Willy DeVille." Leap in the Dark (blogsite) (Retrieved 1–29–08)Harris, Craig (2006) [ "Willy DeVille: Biography"]. AllMusic. (Retrieved 1–29–08) "I think I owe a lot about my look, my image on stage, and my vocal riffs to John Hammond. A lot of my musical stance is from John," Deville said.Billy Pinnell interview with DeVille on Australian radio on the 1994 Raven CD reissue of Miracle He credited Hammond's 1965 album So Many Roads with "changing my life."
Career As a teenager, DeVille played with friends from Stamford in a blues band called Billy & the Kids, and later in another band called The Immaculate Conception.See Blue Love Monkey on MySpace, "About the Blue Love Monkey", which describes singer-songwriter Rick Nafey's collaborations with DeVille in Billy & the Kids ("a blues-rock group in the Rolling Stones-Kinks vein"), The Immaculate Conception ("a wildly eclectic collection of original material with influences ranging from The Holy Modal Rounders to George Jones and Tammy Wynette"), and the Royal Pythons ("performing original material as well as folk, country and blues numbers"). (Retrieved 10–9–09.) At age 17, he married Susan Berle, also known as Toots.Ryan, Tom (2003) "In Memory of Willy Deville — A Re-broadcast of Our 2003 Interview." "Shaddup and Listen" on American Hit Radio. (48:32). "How long have you been married now?" "Since I was seventeen." "Is this the same wife?" "No, this is my third." (Retrieved 10–9–09.) DeVille struck out in 1971 for London in search of like-minded musicians ("obvious American with my pompadour hair"), but was unsuccessful finding them; he returned to New York City after a two-year absence.
His next band, The Royal Pythons ("a gang that turned into a musical group"FaceCulture Interview (June 7, 2006) Willy DeVille: Willy about funerals, songwriting, second sight, his grandmother FaceCulture.com (Retrieved June 4, 2008)), was not a success either. Said DeVille: "I decided to go to San Francisco; there was nothing really happening in New York. Flower power was dead. All the day-glo paint was peeling off the walls. People were shooting speed. I mean, it was real Night of the Living Dead. So I bought a truck and headed out west. I traveled all around the country for a couple of years, looking for musicians who had heart, instead of playing 20-minute guitar solos, which is pure ego."Rhodes, Dusti (1978) "Issue 13: Mink DeVille: Smooth Running Caddy: The Tale of the Mink" Rock Around the World (Retrieved Jan 29, 2008)
The Mink DeVille years
By 1974 Willy DeVille (under the name Billy Borsay) was singing in a band with drummer Thomas R. "Manfred" Allen, Jr., bassist Rubén Sigüenza, guitarist Robert McKenzie (a.k.a. Fast Floyd), and Ritch Colbert on keyboards.Klein, Howard (October 1977) "Mink De Ville: Slick Fur Fury". Creem. Vol. 9 No. 5; p. 28. The band called themselves Billy de Sade and the Marquis, but changed the name to Mink DeVille the year after; at the same time lead singer Borsay adapted the name Willy DeVille. The same year, DeVille persuaded the band members to try their luck in New York City after spotting an ad in The Village Voice inviting bands to audition. Guitarist Fast Floyd and keyboard player Ritch Colbert stayed behind in San Francisco (Colbert would shortly head to NY to join the band), and after arriving in New York, the band hired guitarist Louis X. Erlanger, whose blues sensibilities helped shape the Mink DeVille sound.Marcus, Richard (2006) "Interview: Willy DeVille." Leap in the Dark (a blog). (Retrieved 1–29–08)
During three years, from 1975 to 1977, Mink DeVille was one of the original house bands at CBGB, the New York nightclub where punk rock music was played in mid-1970s. They appear on Live at CBGB's, a 1976 compilation album of bands that played CBGB and for which the band contributed three songs.
In December 1976, Ben Edmonds, an A&R man for Capitol Records signed the band to a contract with Capitol Records after spotting them at CBGB. Edmonds paired Mink DeVille with producer Jack Nitzsche who had apprenticed under Phil Spector and helped shape the Wall of Sound production technique. Assisted by saxophonist Steve Douglas and a cappella singers the Immortals they recorded the band's debut album Cabretta (simply called Mink DeVille in the U.S.) in January 1976. Cabretta, a multifaceted album of soul, R&B, rock, and blues recordings, was selected number 57 in the Village Voices 1977 Pazz & Jop critics poll.Christgau, Robert (1977) "The 1977 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll" Robert Christgau website (Retrieved January 2, 2008) Its lead single "Spanish Stroll" reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, the only Willy DeVille recording to ever hit the charts in the United Kingdom.
The band's follow-up album, Return to Magenta (1978), continued in the same vein as Cabretta, except that Willy DeVille and producers Nitzsche and Steve Douglas employed string arrangements on several songs. On this album Dr. John played keyboards and, once again, Douglas played saxophone. To promote the album, Mink DeVille toured the United States in 1978 with Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. Return to Magenta reached number 126 on the Billboard 200, making it Willy DeVille's highest charting album ever in his home country.
In 1979, Willy DeVille took his band in a new direction and recorded an album in Paris called Le Chat Bleu. For the album, DeVille wrote several songs with Doc Pomus who had previously seen the band play in New York City.Halberstadt, Alex (2007) Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus. New York: Da Capo Press; p. 213 DeVille hired Jean Claude Petit to supervise string arrangements, and he dismissed the members of the band except for guitarist Louis X. Erlanger in favor of new musicians: Accordionist Kenny Margolis, Jerry Scheff (bass), Ron Tutt (drums) and, once again, Steve Douglas (saxophone), who also served as producer. Capitol Records was not happy with Le Chat Bleu, believing that American audiences were incapable of listening to songs with accordions and lavish string arrangements; consequently they initially released the album only in Europe, in 1980. However, the album sold impressively in America as an import and Capitol finally released it in the United States later the same year.Loder, Kurt (December 11, 1980) "Willy DeVille's best: Le Chat Bleu." Rolling Stone; no. 332, p 55-56. Ironically, Rolling Stone yearly critic's poll ranked Le Chat Bleu the fifth best album of 1980,Rolling Stone magazine. Rolling Stone End off Year Critics & Readers Polls. (Retrieved 3–14–08.) and music historian Glenn A. Baker declared it the tenth best rock album of all time.Baker, Glenn A. (1987) The World Critics Lists ~ 1987. (Retrieved 3–14–08.)
By this time no members of the original Mink DeVille save Willy DeVille remained in the band, but DeVille continued recording and touring under the name Mink DeVille.Palmer, Robert (September 25, 1981) "Pop Jazz; Willy DeVille and the Mink in Weekend at the Savoy", The New York Times He then recorded two albums for Atlantic Records, 1981's Coup de Grâce—on which Jack Nitzsche returned as producer—and 1983's Where Angels Fear to Tread. Both sold well in Europe but fared less well in the United States. Coup de Grâce was DeVille's last album ever to enter the Billboard 200, peaking at number 161.